Guardian Newspaper: NSA snooping includes the collection of email metadata

Army Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service, speaks at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association’s International Cyber Symposium June 27, 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland. Alexander addressed recent developments in the NSA’s surveillance programs during his remarks.; Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

The Guardian newspaper reports that, in addition to collecting phone call metadata, the National Security Agency also gathered Americans’ email records — account information and IP addresses — for over a decade. The collection did not include content of emails.

Nicknamed Stellar Wind, the email-tracking program began after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 under President George W. Bush. The Obama Administration inherited the program and cancelled it in 2011.

“The Internet metadata collection program authorized by the FISA court was discontinued in 2011 for operational and resource reasons and has not been restarted,” Shawn Turner, director of communications for national intelligence, told the Guardian. “The program was discontinued by the executive branch as the result of an interagency review.”